June 20, 2012

River Country, a relaxing oasis under Walt Disney World’s hot Florida
sun, began dousing guests with filtered Florida lake water in 1976.
Inspired by Mark Twain’s The Adventures
of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, this old-fashioned swimming hole
included a host of natural swimming areas covered with mountainous
manmade boulders. A number of water slide attractions made the park an
inner tuber’s paradise with Slippery Slide Falls, Upstream Plunge, White
Water Rapids and Whoop ‘n’ Holler Hollow — two winding half pipes that
emptied into Bay Cove, a 330,000 gallon half-acre, sand-bottom lake.
Here, guests could relax on sandy beaches or hang out on a tire swing at
Bay Lake, with the Magic Kingdom’s beckoning skyline in view. Each
summer, the All-American Water Party drenched guests from April to
September with water balloon games, cannonball contests, live music and
splash time with Disney characters. River Country hung up its towel on
September 1, 2001, when Walt Disney World’s water adventures began to
head upstream — reaching new heights with the opening of Typhoon Lagoon
and Blizzard Beach.

When River Country opened, it was described as a “unique new
water-oriented land.” River Country promised to be “everything kids
ever wanted to do at the old swimming hole down by the river in the good
old days, plus all the comforts for Mom and Dad so they can participate
too.”

One of the areas within River Country was Whoop-N’-Holler Hollow,
with two separate twisting journeys (260 feet and 160 feet respectively)
plunging into The Ol’ Swimmin’ Hole.

For over 25 years, River Country provided a refreshing escape from the warm Florida summers for guests of all ages.

June 15, 2012

The Lion King, one of the highest-grossing
films of all time, was released on this day in June in New York and Los
Angeles (it would open in wide release on June 24). Today, almost
everyone in the world knows the story of the young lion cub Simba, who
tries to find his place in the circle of life and follow the long
honorable shadow cast by his father, King Mufasa, after he is killed by
Scar (voiced with oozy relish by Jeremy Irons). But during
pre-production, when the project was called King of the Jungle,
the production teams wasn’t so sure they had a hit on their hands. “In
the early stages, there was great skepticism that a modern audience
would embrace a movie that didn’t include any human characters, much
less one built around singing animals,” Michael Eisner, then chairman
and chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company, remembered in
his book Work in Progress. “But through countless drafts over five years, The Lion King
evolved into one of those magical films in which everything comes
together… It was also a daunting standard to match.” Eisner also noted
that it was “probably the most profitable film ever made, including Titanic (lions and meerkats don’t demand a percentage of the gross).”

June 14, 2012

Yodelay he hoo! On this day in 1959, Disneyland’s Matterhorn
opened to the public, giving Guests the opportunity to ride down the icy
slopes of the majestic mountain in bobsleds. In 1958, when Walt Disney
was on location in Switzerland, he saw the Matterhorn and knew he wanted
that in Disneyland, where anything is possible. The Matterhorn, was
built to 1/100th scale of the original size, complete with real trees
grown in the Rocky Mountains. The Matterhorn Bobsleds have their
placed carved out in roller coaster history as being the first coaster
built on round tubular tracks, as well as having a unique ride control
system to become the first to have more than one coaster on the track at
a time. The original name Matterhorn is derived from the words “matte”
meaning “meadow” and “horn” meaning peak. And speaking of translations,
this attraction taught millions of people how to say, “Remain seated,
please” in Spanish, “Permanecer sentados, por favor.”

June 8, 2012

Donald Duck First Appearance was on june 9th, 1934 in the movie "The Wise Little Hen."

Born ca. 1920 as one of two twins. Son of $crooge McDuck's sister
Hortense McDuck and Quackmore Duck, son of Elivira "Grandma" Duck and
her husband Humperdink Duck. Donald Duck thus is a descendant from both
the Clan McDuck and the Coots. In Back To Long Ago! Barks shows that
Donald seems to be the rebirth of the 16th century sailor Pintail Duck.

In Lo$ part 11 Don Rosa shows that Donald's first meeting with Scrooge
took place in 1930. When the family leaves Scrooge Donald, still a
child, for a moment return to his Uncle Scrooge and gives him a kick in
his back.

Very little is known about Donald's life from 1930 to the early 1940's.
At some point his family leaves Duckburg. If he stayed in Duckburg all
the time (at Grandma Duck's farm?) or left with his family, and then
returned at later point is still unknown. What we know is that at some
time in the mid-1940's his three nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie moved in
with him.

Donald Duck has trough the years tried all kinds of jobs without much
success. This is though more caused by constant bad luck and
stubbornness than a lack of talent. It however seems that his Uncle
$crooge always has something for him, like shining his coins.

In An eye for detail and more recently in The Dutchman's Secret Don Rosa
shows that Donald is an expert in detecting very small details. This is
why he so easily can separate HD&L from each other while for
instance the people in "Plain Awful" think that the boys are totally
alike each other.

Once Donald built his own car (registered with the number 313) from spare parts. He has used it ever since.

Donald has a rumour for being a "difficult" neighbour. His fights with
his neighbour J. Jones are matter of discussions all over Duckburg.
Donald is also known for fights with his own cousin Gladstone Gander
over Donald's girlfriend Daisy Duck.

In the private Donald raises his three nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie
Duck, with great success. He's also known as a good cook with pancakes
as his speciality.